Lukashenka: Bahdanovich, Karatkevich, Bykov are sources of national pride

Absence of censorship did not produce great literature, and freedom split the community of writers, the president said while opening a meeting with Belarusian writers. Lukashenka reminded them that in Soviet times it was customary, among the creative intelligentsia, to complain about the censorship, BelTA informs.

"But freedom did not spawn a great literature, but it led to a split in the literary community. What is it - a dead end? Or do you have hope for the restoration of a single creative field?" Lukashenka asked.

He also said he did not believe "in the twilight of the literary era in Belarus". "In the life of our people, literature has always been a means of understanding the world and upbringing. No wonder poetry and prose by Kupala and Kolas, Bahdanovich and Melezh, Karatkievich, Bykau are a source of national pride for generations of Belarusians. Why the high bar raised by our great writers does NOT correspond to the current state of the literary process?" Lukashenka asked.